Thursday 14 February 2019

A Porkie Date


After my first visit to Crack Pork@Damansara Uptown, I decided to return for something else. It turned out to be a disappointment.


The coffee was diluted.


And the only thing I enjoyed from this plate of Char Siew with Mantou was the mantou and the salad. The char siew tasted like it was seasoned with sauce that came out of a bottle (reminded me of Lee Kum Kee's BBQ sauce). It was nothing like the sort of char siew that one would expect. So I know that the char siew here is to be avoided.

But based on my good impression of the porchetta, I decided to return for dinner with my partner on our date night.


We ordered a Honey Lemon to share. It was good.


Our appetizer - Quail. We had a giggle when it came to the table. It reminded us of our experience at Tang Room@The Starling. This quail was well seasoned and we were pleased with it. I loved the chili sambal that came with it.


Upon the chef's recommendation, I went for the Pork Chops. I thought it was brilliant. Well seasoned, crusty on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. This item is apparently not on the menu but I think it should be. Best pork chop I have ever eaten.


The side salad was pretty decent. I felt that the potato salad was too heavily dressed with mayonnaise. The pork chops went really well with the side serving of mustard. Loved this dish a lot!

Unfortunately, the kitchen missed out my partner's order of Pasta with Porchetta. We had to remind the server and then the chef (when he popped out of the kitchen). Luckily my partner was in an agreeable mood. 


To make up for the delay, the chef promised my partner extra porchetta. However, when we made the order, we specified "no cheese" as my partner dislikes cheese. We should have reminded the chef. It came with cheese but my partner ate the pasta anyway since he was very hungry by then.

I hope that Crack Pork smooths out such teething issues as forgetting an order (and not fulfilling specific request) is something quite unacceptable. 

18 comments:

  1. Photo 1 looks attractive but too bad the char siew is not what you expected. Good that you gave them a 3rd chance by going there again for dinner with your partner. I cannot imagine how they could forget an order together with the request for no cheese. Wah, your partner can tahan the cheese ah? If my spouse, sure cannot and I will have to eat the pasta with cheese and he would have to order another porky dish. I will wait for a while longer before I visit this eatery to give them more time to smooth out these issues. Thanks for the review!

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    1. Good idea to wait and let the dust settle. I think this place has potential if they play the game right.

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  2. yummmmzzz...piggy year must eat pork! Babi best betul!!

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  3. I did not get to eat the porchetta here that day!!! Sobssss!!! Mantau, we'd pair with stewed pork belly.

    Aiyor!!! I would have made a scene when I was younger - now I'm old, mellowed with age...plus my girl does not like me doing that even though I keep telling her in this world, it does not pay to be too goody-goody and nice - people will step on your head!

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    1. My partner was surprisingly mellow that evening LOL! He usually expresses displeasure and will insist on not coming back.

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  4. Like you, i also give chance. Not easy to find nice tender and juicy pork chop, good that you enjoyed the pork chop.

    I also experienced before that i have to remind the waitress a few times for my order, what a turn off.

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    1. Service is very important and I believe they will improve.

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  5. Wow! The best pork chop eaten by you must be the best in this universe for me! I want to eat too.
    The chef and kitchen were so absent minded and no excuses for that oversight. You must have soothed your partner well to be in good mood. Hihihihi

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    1. LOL! This place has potential if they get the food right and tighten up on their service. I hope they add the pork chop to the menu. You must go try it.

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  6. Hi there Phong Hong!

    This is Janice here, the new owner of Crack Pork. Hope you are well and good! :)

    Thank you for your review - both for the first and second visit.
    We stumbled upon your review and we would like to apologise for the poor experience that you had in your second visit. As we are still new and have taken over the management of the brand, while also just started running for about a month plus, we really appreciate with all the feedback that we can get from customers. Both myself and the team are very well aware and noted of your experience and have also shared with the team for our improvement.

    We do hope to see you and your friends soon again! Though you have given us a second visit and it was a bad experience, we do hope to have you back soon to try our new menu soon as we are currently expanding our menu too :)

    Looking forward to seeing you soon again!

    Thank you and hope you'll have a good day and night ahead!

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    1. Hi Janice! What a pleasant surprise :) Crack Pork has potential and I believe in telling the truth for purpose of helping you guys improve. I have seen one or two good restaurants go down in this area due to inconsistency in quality of food and service.

      I will be back, don't worry. Please put the excellent pork chops on the menu :) Thanks for dropping by.

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  7. Ooo, the char siew doesn't look any good...looking all lean like that and missing that nice caramelisation...hihihi! ;D Your comment on the pork chop has made me want to visit. So this place's siu yuk is more like the local roasted meat stalls and not like western-style siu yuk (other than the porchetta, of course)? Then I would like. Their FB says they're now under a new management, I wonder if the recipe has been changed or tweaked from their Kota Damansara days.

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    1. I did tell the chef that I prefer the old school chicken rice shop type of char siew and I hope that they would do that type hee..hee.. I don't know if the pork chops have made their way into the menu and if it does, you can try it. And hopefully the execution is consistent. I have not visited the Kota Damansara outlet so I am wondering too.

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  8. The mantous look very nice. Sorry the char siew was not up to expectation. I would love my pasta with lots of cheese. Hope you next visit will be a wonderful experience.

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    1. Oh, you are a cheese lover! I can pengsan when confronted with parmesan cheese. LOL!

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  9. The Char Siew dosn't impress me either, from its look as I don't like too much sauce on it.
    Hopefully the taste of the pasta has made up to the ordering mistake :)

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